According to some studies, an application in a mobile device, which tracks down the weight of the individual, may help in shedding the extra kilos, and this will also be comparatively more useful than a typical weight loss program.

A NEW study in the US has found that the people who are obese and overweight are losing an average of over eight pounds of weight when they are given some kind of personal digital assistance, which includes occasional phone coaching as well.

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This gives a clear picture that the best mechanism to lose weight is self-monitoring. The self-monitoring can be done by keeping a record of your weight and the diet you are eating. A smart-phone app that will be able to keep the details of all this could help a lot in losing weight, says Goutham Rao, a researcher at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois.

The programs in mobile devices are personalized and are easily available. The app in the mobile will be as good as your weighing machine. The study included 69 people who were overweight and obese and most of them were in their late fifties. All the participants were enrolled for twelve group sessions at Veterans Affairs clinic for weight-loss support. The sessions focused on behavioral changes, exercises and nutritional diet to promote weight loss.

Half of the participants were given a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) to record their food and other activities throughout the day and at the end of the day it was checked by a coach using a phone. After six months, it was observed that the participants who used PDAs had managed to shed most of the weight they initially lost, according to Archives of Internal Medicine.

Such kind of apps are beneficial as they are cheaper and widely available. Other benefits of these apps are that they will help in re-engaging the people as there is no specific end date. Rao says, “There's evidence that apps alone don't have much of an impact on weight loss. It may be more helpful to think of the technology as something that augments help from a primary care doctor or nutritionist.”

Bonnie Spring, the lead researcher from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago told Ruters Health “An app and some human support, coaching, nutrition education - that combination of things will help.”